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Two months ago, the Iowa Hawkeyes were the undefeated, No. 4 team in the nation. They were up early in the first half against Northwestern, were the subject of serious BCS title game chatter and finding magical ways to win each week behind a curious mix of a methodical offense, an opportunistic defense and a junior quarterback with an uncanny knack for the clutch.
Never pretty, never graceful — Ricky Stanzi always seemed to find a way. With eight come-from-behind victories in nine games, Stanzi had his Hawkeyes at 9-0 in early November.
And then he went down.
With a second-quarter ankle injury against Northwestern that required surgery, the guy who threw five interceptions in a game and still found a way to win a week earlier was out for the remainder of the regular season. Northwestern would go on to win that game, the Hawkeyes would lose another one the following week, and all BCS title game and Rose Bowl dreams were suddenly down the drain.
Stanzi is doing what he did all season Tuesday night in the FedEx Orange Bowl — he's coming back.
Now 100 percent recovered from the ankle injury that kept Iowa away from its first outright Big Ten title since 1985, Stanzi leads his Hawkeyes against a dangerous and different Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets team.
"I hope to be able to go out there and pretend it's like riding a bike and nothing has changed," Stanzi said last week. "If things are little rusty, I'll just have to shake it off and get on to the next play."
Bouncing back? It's nothing new for Stanzi.
After tossing five interceptions against unranked Indiana, Stanzi "shook it off" and went 3-for-3 for 177 yards and two scores in the fourth quarter to keep Iowa's then-undefeated season alive on Oct. 31. Against Michigan State in East Lansing the week before that, Stanzi completed just 11 of 27 passes. But in the fourth quarter, he led three scoring drives and connected with Marvin McNutt for a game-winning touchdown in the final seconds. A two-year starter with a 17-4 record, Stanzi has led the Hawkeyes to four wins by a total of eight points this season.
"He's like a boxer you can never give up on. He might get knocked down two times in the first round, but he could take you the distance and knock you out in the 12th," McNutt said of his quarterback this week.
"Even if we're down by 20 in the fourth quarter, you can look in his eyes and he hasn't given up on us. So we don't give up on him."
A lot of college football fans gave up on Big Ten football this season. Even more folks gave up on the ACC. Ohio State lost at home to a freshman quarterback and USC in a nationally hyped September battle, Maryland fell to Middle Tennessee State, Virginia lost to William and Mary, and Illinois, Florida State and Michigan were considered three of the biggest disappointments in college football.
But with impressive New Year's week bowl wins for Virginia Tech, Clemson, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Florida State, both conferences flexed a few muscles with a lot of the naysayers' eyes watching. On Tuesday night, Iowa and Georgia Tech — two teams with completely conflicting styles — will go at it in Miami.
In Iowa, you have the steely Stanzi and a hard-nosed defense led by All-Big Ten first-team selection Pat Angerer at linebacker. In Tech, you have the nation's second-best rushing attack and Paul Johnson's triple option offense. Running back Jonathan Dwyer has 1,346 yards on the year, and quarterback Josh Nesbitt is 9 rushing yards away from reaching 1,000.
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"They're freaks," Angerer said of Dwyer and Nesbitt on Friday. "It's unbelievable. I'm not really looking forward to tackling them, because they'll probably be tackling me."
For all of Stanzi's celebrated fourth-quarter heroics, Nesbitt has had his share of clutch performances this season, too. Against North Carolina, Nesbitt guided his Yellow Jackets on a time-sucking, eight-minute, game-sealing drive in the fourth quarter. Against Florida State, Nesbitt stole the ball from a Seminoles defender before winning the game on a touchdown run. He was the guiding force behind the Jackets' much celebrated overtime victory over Wake Forest a few weeks later.
"He's really just taken this team on his back, and there have been a number of times where he's just said, 'Follow me, guys, I'm going to take you in. We're going to win this game,'" center Sean Bedford said of Nesbitt this week. "You can't say enough about his toughness. You look at how many times he gets hit in this offense. I'd love to see another quarterback take the type of beating he does. He is the toughest player I've been around."
Stanzi and Nesbitt — two comeback kids with two very different styles of quarterback play — will do their best to end their teams' seasons on high notes. In the process, they'll try to give each of their respective conferences — both beaten up and bruised by critics all season — one final bit of postseason pride.
For Stanzi, Nesbitt, Iowa, Georgia Tech, the Big Ten and the ACC, it's all about coming back from a season drizzled with setbacks and finishing on top. Or as the decorated receiver McNutt put it, knocking the other one out in the 12th.
In a game that I think a lot of folks will be pleasantly surprised with, give me Stanzi, Angerer, McNutt and the never-say-die Hawkeyes in the final seconds over the Yellow Jackets in Miami.
The Game: FedEx Orange Bowl, Tuesday night, 8 ET, FOX
The Pick: Iowa 27, Georgia Tech 24
